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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

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The Vancouver Open, the flagship event of the Vancouver Golf Tour, goes next week at Pagoda Ridge in Langley and Ledgeview in Abbotsford. PGA Tour Canada regulars Ryan Williams, Adam Cornelson, Corey Renfrew, Riley Wheeldon, Seann Harlingten and Kevin Spooner are among the entrants. James Lepp of Abbotsford, North Vancouver’s Bryn Parry, James Allenby of Langley and Kevin Stinson of Mission are also in the field.

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After fielding one of the toughest assignments in the current term of the B.C. Liberal government, cabinet minister Peter Fassbender has been handed another huge challenge in an otherwise modest cabinet shuffle. Premier Christy Clark wanted a multi-year contract settlement with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. As her education minister, Fassbender delivered.

The continuing heat and drought in British Columbia has more than a few people hot under the collar. You can’t wash your car, gardeners can’t water their lawns, and a petition has been started to stop Nestlé from using free spring water for its bottling plant in the Fraser Valley.

Lane Oseen is keeping a sharp eye on 745 Thurlow, a new office tower going up beside the Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Corporate office moves haven’t been tendered for that building yet, but Oseen tries to keep ahead of the game.

One of the fun things about visiting Portland is how easy it is to navigate around the city on the light rail transit system. No walking up and down stairs or riding elevators or escalators to elevated or underground stations. Simply wait at a street-level transit stop and step on board.

There’s an interesting little forum entry from April on the website of the Victoria-based Triple Shot Cycling club. Young Victoria native Adam de Vos, who is having a stellar season with H&R Block Pro Cycling, a first-year UCI Continental team, had just earned a fifth overall (general classification) placing in a starting field of nearly 200 in the highly regarded Redlands Classic stage race in California.

Re: Transit plans hit political gridlock, July 3
Now that the transit plebiscite has met its fate we have an opportunity for a better solution to our transportation woes. Though I am a regular transit user I voted No. Why?

Metro Vancouver mayors and the B.C. government are in a standoff over who’s responsible for funding transportation after the region’s voters — many in transit-deficient areas south of the Fraser — roundly rejected a half-a-percentage-point sales tax hike to help pay for a $7.5-billion 10-year plan.

Kudos to the B.C. Egg Marketing Board for labelling Wednesday's made-for-media event in down-town Vancouver - the unveiling of a life-size fire truck made from, of all odd things, egg cartons - as an exercise in "eggonomics."